I’ll be sincere; the rationale you’re seeing this 1995 highway take a look at of the BMW R1100RS is essentially as a result of I’m stunned our servers haven’t misplaced this story from MO’s very early days. Motorcycle.com was solely a 12 months outdated when this take a look at debuted. It’s enjoyable studying via these irreverent days of the positioning mixed with the bikes of the period. It’s attention-grabbing to notice how the OG’s of MO had been coping with among the similar points we cope with at present: accepting emissions compromises whereas equally bemoaning how a lot they sap efficiency. Then there are the standard BMW quirks which seemingly haven’t modified. Speaking of not altering, try that Aerostich swimsuit!
Blue Beemer on the Backroads
The BMW line of boxer motors — two-cylinder engines the place the pistons swing backwards and forwards like a boxer’s fists — goes again greater than 70 years now, an unbreakable BMW custom. It wasn’t meant to be that means: The Bavarian Motor Works would have been comfortable for the boxers to simply fade away, like outdated boxers do, in a collection of inarticulate grunts leaving the recollections of fights fought and punches taken. Then the BMW bike line might all be based mostly on the three- and four-cylinder Okay-bikes, which use a lot automotive expertise as to be functionally similar with BMW’s greater automobile engines.
But the boxers wouldn’t die with no combat. Though the outdated air-cooled two-valve motors are gone now, the R collection continues, one cylinder protruding all sides, albeit with vastly improved energy and a veritable tour de drive of expertise. With greater than a nod to the automotive facet of BMW’s enterprise, the Bavarian agency outfitted the brand new boxer household with essentially the most superior working gear within the enterprise: Second era ABS brakes, catalytic converter and gas injection signifies that BMW’s engines are within the forefront of latest bike expertise.
Improved energy and higher environmental safety are merchandise of this new expertise, and the RS is the new rod of the twin-cylinder vary with a claimed 90hp accessible. Riders with a sufficiently big credit standing to purchase one in every of these $14,000 (with ABS) bikes are additionally hoping that BMW’s legendary reliability and sturdiness are additionally alongside for the experience. The RS shares the identical “frameless” development because the R1100R (beforehand reviewed in Motorcycle Online), with an engine tuned for extra top-end energy than the bare bike, on the expense of a bit midrange. The 1085cc engine is used because the body, and the entrance and rear suspension connect to it by way of a entrance Telelever wishbone and rear single-sided Paralever swinging arm.
The solely time you discover that this suspension isn’t the outdated telescopic kind is when going backwards. When making an attempt to maneuver the bike backwards up a slope, you’ll be able to’t push down on the forks and rebound it up. There isn’t any rebound: the suspension doesn’t work that means. Which means, in the course of the 99.9% of the time that you simply spend going forwards, that brake dive is all however eradicated.
On the RS, the non-adjustable entrance suspension unit’s damping settings are a bit on the squishy facet for a critical sport bike, and in response to BMW riders, they solely get looser with time. BMW aficionados will counter that the RS isn’t a critical sport bike, they usually’re proper. Efficient because the engine is, the transmission is a legal responsibility. Even although drive shaft squat is countered by the paralever system on the rear, the boxer’s gearbox remains to be as clunky, noisy and sluggish to alter as ever.
Instead of a sportbike, the RS is a motorcycle to take off for a weekend, or a month, for a blue backroads experience, the place the intent isn’t to blitz the corners however to take pleasure in them within the smoothest means potential. Be warned that, when the rear shock is jacked up excessive sufficient for first rate floor clearance, the cylinder heads drag. Otherwise, if you happen to’ve set the shock up with minimal preload, the centerstand touches down first. Unfortunately, they sound about the identical while grinding away at most lean so pay attention to what, precisely, you’re dragging (if you happen to do). You’ll by no means stick with an knowledgeable on a sportbike on the twisties, however you’ll in all probability cross him/her 10 miles up the highway on the espresso stand — due to the great ergonomics the Beemer is comfy sufficient to experience till you need to cease for gasoline. Indeed, the RS is sweet for the lengthy haul, so long as you put on earplugs to eradicate the wind roar from the small fairing’s display. While it could lack sportbike transmission and suspension, the beemer’s sticky Bridgestone Battlax BT50 tires (each of which had been half worn out by the two,500-mile mark on our bike) give nice grip. Several totally different tire mixtures can be found for many who don’t wish to change the black bits that usually. Just be looking out for big potholes on the RS: The three-spoke wheels are apparently pretty straightforward to bend, and at over $700 every, costly to switch.
How usually you need to pit for gasoline will depend on how arduous you yank the throttle: With a cautious proper wrist, 200 miles is feasible. A severely ungentle proper wrist can generally convey on the gas warning mild earlier than going 100 miles. In equity to BMW, we should always say that there’s a lengthy solution to go from warning mild to an empty tank, however since there isn’t any reserve faucet, and the gas injection could also be clogged by detritus if the tank is run bone dry, we by no means tried to see precisely how lengthy it could go. The optionally available rider info console, mounted on the fitting facet of the fairing, features a bar graph gasoline gauge that’s much less helpful than the outdated needle kind. The final bar is gone lengthy earlier than the gas stops swishing about within the tank, leaving us wishing for a plain-jane gas gauge. BMW specifies 89 octane gas because the minimal requirement, however 92 octane is a greater choice to forestall detonation below arduous acceleration since a knock sensor shouldn’t be a part of the Motronic gas injection bundle.
Rider consolation is catered to by a leaned-forward using place, harking back to BMW’s finest folks. Footpegs don’t stick out at ninety levels, as an alternative, they comply with the pure waddle of the human kind and level barely backwards. Sit in your bike, no matter it’s, and also you’ll see that your ft wish to try this, too. The switchgear takes some time to get used to. BMW have a change system all their very own, with flip sign buttons on every handlebar, canceled by a separate change that you simply push up to actuate. Unlike earlier fashions, flip indicators aren’t self-cancelling. The horn, too, is a pale vestige of earlier BMW honkers: Hit (or, extra appropriately, painfully wedge up along with your thumb) the awkward, left side-mounted button and a duckish squawk outcomes. Thankfully, there’s room below the fairing for loud pair of Italian horns.
Ground clearance, all the time a boxer drawback (comes from having one cylinder protruding all sides), remains to be on the low facet for ultra-serious sport using, and regardless that you’ll need to be making an attempt maniacally arduous to grind a cylinder on the road, we managed it. We additionally managed to plant a cylinder on the asphalt at zero mph in a parking zone tipover — too simply. Turns out the sidestand, all the time a BMW failing prior to now, remains to be not proper. Park on the unsuitable gradient, or put only a bit an excessive amount of weight on the handlebars, and the bike suggestions over the stand and onto the tarmac. Thankfully, the cylinder head sticking on the market prevents an excessive amount of floor contact, however scratched cylinder heads aren’t fairly, or low-cost to switch. Another niggle considerations the saddlebags. While they’re straightforward to mount and take away (and use the identical key because the ignition/steering lock), it appears you solely need to breathe on them to mar their shiny end. The rumor from sellers is that wrinkly covers are again in for ’96.
As with each fashionable BMW, the single-skinned exhaust pipes flip blue instantly, which was once a symptom of poor working however these days simply reveals how lean engines run. You can really feel that lean working when the engine surges at low- to mid-rpm because the oxygen sensor within the pipe adjusts the combination to be as lean as potential. The pipes are linked to the environment via a catalytic converter that cleans up the engine’s air pollution quotient even additional and makes you are feeling totally justified to drive within the carpool lane.
The second-generation ABS works with out drama to cease the bike on gravel or different poor highway surfaces. As you drive away from a cease, the ‘chirp — chirp’ of the ABS solenoids arming themselves reminds you the system is on. Otherwise, you by no means know the ABS is there till you want it. And whenever you do want it, the bike will pull up neatly on any highway floor.
The R1100RS’s styling is modern. A shark-like look, redolent of Nineteen Thirties streamlining, carries the RS into the 1996 season. One of the few apparent modifications from the primary RS, launched three years in the past, is the seat, which is now black as an alternative of off-white; and now the sunshine blue of the unique RS has mellowed to a somber, nearly navy shade. Conservative, nearly. Nice touches embody the million-mile odometer and the California-proof filler cap. Motorcycle journal junkies will bear in mind the nifty sidestand fairing that was once tacked onto Honda’s flagship VFR 750. A sidestand fairing? The Beemer has plastic panels of the identical doubtful utility mounted onto every entrance fork leg. Reason? maybe to keep away from anybody truly taking a look at these fork sliders and realising they go all the best way up-or nearly-to the fork tops. The fairing hides the unconventional entrance finish from public view, a indisputable fact that in all probability saves the rider at the very least 5 minutes per day in explaining time. And this can be a bike that can be utilized on daily basis. It gives turnkey reliability and stone dependable beginning and working, and servicing that for essentially the most half may be carried out by a mechanically inclined proprietor. It’s a sport-styled machine for the lengthy haul.
Specifications:
Manufacturer: BMW Model: R1100RS Price: $13,790 (with ABS) Engine: sohc, 8-valve, opposed-Twin Bore x stroke: 99.0 x 70.5mm Displacement: 1085cc Carburetion: Bosch Motronic EFI Transmission: 5-speed Wheelbase: 57.9 in. Seat peak: 30.7-32.2 in. Fuel capability: 6.2 gal. Claimed dry weight: 491 lbs. Time to Distance: 60ft: 1.975 seconds 120ft: 5.133 seconds 1/eighth mile: 7.807 @ 92.934 mph 1/4 mile: 12.170 @ 110.995 mph Measured Power: Torque: 67.3 ft-lbs @ 5500 rpm Horsepower: 81.3 @ 7000 rpm (As measured on the Graves Motorsports DynoJet dyno.)
Impressions:
1. Andy Saunders, Senior Editor ****
The jack of all trades, because the outdated saying goes, is grasp of none. The BMWR1100RS desires to be a Sport Bike — the fairing and tucked-in using place inform you that. It aspires to be a Touring Bike, with capacious saddlebags. And with that carrying capability, sufficient for a few luggage of groceries, it’s an Everyday Bike that you need to use to run errands. Of course, it might probably’t succeed in any respect of those roles the best way a single-purpose bike can. But if you happen to’ve ever tried to carve corners with a Gold Wing or choose up groceries with a GSXR, possibly you’ll recognize just a bit compromise.
2. Brent Plummer, Editor ***1/2
Call me loopy, however I didn’t just like the RS almost as a lot because the R1100R. The motor is tuned for an excessive amount of high-end energy and has a horrible flat spot within the center (a brand new EFI controller chip ought to treatment that). And the bodywork was tacky — ours got here with a warped physique panel that was held to the bike at one level with Velcro ® and popped out on a regular basis. For my cash, I’d get the R1100R with out ABS and pocket the 4 or five-grand distinction (relying on what number of choices you get on the RS), purchase a clamp-on windshield for lengthy journeys, and spend the remainder of the cash on tenting or meals or one thing foolish. Oh, earlier than I neglect, spend some additional dough on BMW’s optionally available baggage, it’s superior.
3. Mike Franklin, Managing Editor ****
Until I rode the RS, I believed for certain that it was going to be a greater bike than the R1100R, extra sporty, extra highly effective, and higher suspension. After placing it via its paces in metropolis driving, canyon carving, and freeway droning, I wasn’t so certain anymore. Don’t get me unsuitable, the RS is a really succesful bike, however it felt too large for me bodily, and it wasn’t as a lot enjoyable to experience because the R1100R. I don’t consider there’s any such factor as a dangerous BMW, even when the switchgear is a bit awkward, and I applaud their use of expertise for the rider’s sake, not their advert division’s. It’s not my favourite Beemer, however I nonetheless have to offer it 4 stars.
Source: www.bike.com